No work, however excellent, ever yet appeared, which was not blamed, as well as praised, by many; but we hefitate not to pronounce that good, which retains, during a confiderable time, a majority of fuffrages in its favour. Longinus, very reasonably, makes the favourable opinion of various nations, for many ages, an infallible criterion of an author's fingular excellence. And it is certain, that to call in queftion the merits of thofe books which have long furvived their authors, contributesmore to difgrace the critic, than to diminish the author's reputation. But it is not fo with living writers. They labour under peculiar difadvantages; not only from the difficulty of arriving at diftinction after so many illuftrious predeceffors, but from the prejudices and the envy of their equals and contemporaries. Men have always felt an inclination to exalt departed genius, not only from a fincere admiration of it, but also with a fecret defire to degrade living merit, by introducing an invidious comparifon. No one afpires at the diftinctions of fortune, or civil honours, without exciting jealoufy and envy. It would be therefore unreafonable to fuppofe, that literary ambition fhould be exempted from the attendants of all ambition. It aims at peculiar diftinction, and must therefore excite peculiar oppofition. There never yet was a moral writer, however fincere, whofe life and external manners correfponded, in every refpect, with the dignity of his writings; and who did. not, in fome degree, difappoint thofe who were led,. by the admiration of his works, to approach his perfon, and to feek his company and converfation in the scenes of familiar life. Too high an expectation is ufually formed of him; and we do not confider, that in his book we furvey only the picture of his mind; a picture, which is ufually fullied and deformed by the crazy covering in which it is involved. When he fat down to write, his foul was probably in its proper ftate; all fpiritual, and all contemplative. No fooner has he laid afide his pen, and departed from his library, than he is neceffarily engaged in the common purfuits of mankind; and difplays, like them, many frailties, and many of thofe faults which he has very fincerely con demned demned in his moral differtations. But when a fpectator, unacquainted with life, manners, and the inconftancy of the human heart, beholds this difference between the writer's book and his behaviour, he, too precipitately and feverely, indulges his cenfure, and learns to defpife him whom, at a distance, he admired. Thus are enemies and calumniators multiplied, without any other failings on the part of the injured person, than the common imbecilities attendant on the most improved state of human nature. Foibles and errors, which would fcarcely be noticed in others, are not only remarked in him, but remembered and related in company as matter of entertainment. Even his fincerity is doubted, and the writer is lowered by the imperfections of the man; though the imperfections are only the characteristics of humanity. If he has written against avarice or ambition, and happens, by honeft induftry or good fortune, to gain money or promotion, he is immediately reprefented as a hypocrite; notwithstanding he may have a family dependant upon him for fupport, or may have worn himfelf out in the fervice of the public, without feeking or gaining any other emolument than what may afford him an humble and quiet retreat in his old age. It is not eafy to write, without fometimes appearing to affume an air of fuperiority. Moral precepts would often be ineffectual, if they were not enforced in a ftyle, which, though by no means dogmatical, is yet, in a due degree, authoritative. The neighbours, and the familiar acquaintance of the moralift, who are accuftomed to effimate importance by property, and to judge of the weight of a man's opinions by the weight of his purfe, are offended to find him, who has not a vote in a county meeting, nor an acre of arable or pafture on the face of the earth, daring to exprefs himfelf with as much freedom, as if he were animated with the confcioufnefs of keeping a pack of fox hounds, or had confiderable influence at the election of a knight of the fhire. Nevertheless, if what he writes be true, truth being great, he who is armed with it will certainly prevail. Refiftance or contradiction will be ineffectual. Nothing, therefore, remains but ridicule and detraction to to fap the fortrefs, which is proof against affault. The writer, therefore, is reprefented by the neighbouring gentlemen as an oddity, a melancholy reclufe, and, per-haps, a little cracked; both he and his family are pitied by the humane ladies, for being perpetually confined to mufty books, and total ftrangers to all true pleafure. Between the fippings of the tea, and the dealing of the cards, much criticifin is difplayed, in which, it is not eafy to determine which is the more confpicuous, ignorance or ill nature. It is not uncommon for ladies, who can hardly write their names, or indite a love-letter, without Entick's fpelling dictionary, to decide on the merit of a celebrated poem, or any other new publication, with all the authority of an Ariftotle, or the foolish virulence of a Zoilus. And who, indeed, can controvert a remark, however injudicious or malignant, when it proceeds from lips which add a grace and fweetness to all they utter? A veteran virgin may furely be allowed to confole herself, in the intervals of fcandal, with the feverity of literary criticifm. It muft indeed be owned, that many lies and falfe cenfures on characters, are publifhed to the world at the tea and the card-table; but there is this comfort, that whenever it is known whence they originate, they are fuffered, by all candid and fenfible perfons, to drop, fillborn, from their prolific parents. Yet, fometimes, they ftruggle into life, and are able to murder many a reputation before their own final extinction. Every thing excellent is to be paid for at a certain price of inconvenience or difficulty. The calumnies of envy, ignorance, and impertinence, muft be fuftained by him who endeavours, by worthy means, to procure the efteem of the worthy. He muft weigh the praises against the cenfures, and enjoy the predominant applaufe, while he neglects the fevere remarks of impertinence or ill-temper, as trifles lighter than the air. No truth has been more repeatedly uttered, than that nothing in this fublunary state is, in every refpect, what we wish it. We must then learn to fubmit to neceflity, and turn our attention from our evils, to our advantages. After all our complaints, Providence is ufually found kind and impartial; and, if we poffefs but humility humility and patience, we fhall difcover, under our most disagreeable fituation, fome copious fource of placid enjoyment. The ill ufage of the world will recoil from the heart, which is fhielded with faith and innocence, as the billows are reverberated from the rock. Whatever difficulties or injuries a writer may fuftain, he may confole himself, if he has always taken the part of truth and virtue, that he has employed the talents which God gave him, at least in an inoffenfive and rational manner; and that it is probable, that many, in the great mafs of mankind, may poffefs a kindred fpirit, and at fome favourable moment may receive pleasure and advantage from his lucubrations, even when he is united with the duft from which he was taken, and become equally infenfible to cenfure or applause. No. CXIV. ON THE OBLIGATIONS WHICH LEARNING OWES TO THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. ANY MAN those who have made the greatest among pretenfions to learning, have profeffed themselves enemies to Revelation. It is not, indeed, difficult to account for their rejection of a religion which is all humility, and by no means calculated to please fuch as confider the applause of men as the most valuable object, and who pride themselves on the infallibility of their own intellects. To the bold, the conceited, and the half-learned pretender to philofophy, who is weak enough to think his reafon commenfurate to every object which falls under its notice, that fyflem, which requires the exercise of faith more than of reafon, appears, as the fcriptures themselves obferve, foolishnefs. Pride, and a very filly kind of pride, fuch, indeed, as arises from narrow views of things, and an ignorance of human nature, is the foundation of infidelity. It is, however, no lefs ungrateful, than foolish and wicked, in the fons of learning, to devote their abilities to the extermination of the national religion. For it is really true, that all the antient learning which now remains, was preferved by fome peculiar circumstances attending the propagation of Chriflianity; and, I believe, it will be thought very probable, that if the antient languages, and the books written in them, had been entirely loft, the civilized nations of Europe would have ftill continued in a state of darkness and barbarifin. Real fuperftition would then, indeed, have reigned triumphant; and the philofopher, as he calls himself, who is now writing down Christianity, would have been trembling at witches and goblins, fpells and enchantments. He makes ufe of that very light, which has directed his steps in the paths of learning, to discover the moft probable means of extinguifhing the fource of all illumination. I was led into this train of reflections by the perufal of a charge of a late very learned archdeacon of London, in which he evinces, that our Saviour fpoke moft truly in more fenfes than one, when he said of himself, "I 66 AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD." When any species of literary induftry is confidered as a duty founded on religion, care will be taken to preferve thofe parts of literature, which, from the indolence and infirmity of the human mind, might have been loft amidst revolutions, perfecutions, diftrefs, and the fury of conqueft. In every difficulty, the Chriftians fled for comfort to their fcriptures, and watched over them with peculiar vigilance. The Septuagint preferved, in the worft times, a knowledge of Greek; and the Latin tranflations, which were multiplied withavidity, refcued the Latin language from a total oblivion. Jofephus was ftudied, and therefore preferved by the Chriftians more carefully than by the Jews; and the neceffity of Greek for the understanding of the New Teftament, caufed that language not only to be faved from the ravages of time, but alfo to be ftudied with devout attention. The Fathers of the church wrote in Greek during three centuries; and at a time when the Latin language G S was |